[mcp6453[_2_]]

In my humble opinion, Shure, the company, is not what it used to be.
Many years ago, you could send them a mic, and they would repair it and
return it for a very reasonable charge. Later, they would give you a
comparable mic as a replacement, also for a reasonable cost. Now, if you
call them and ask them about a repair on an old mic, they reply with,
"We don't fix discontinued mics no more."

Quite by accident, I discovered that there is a company that does fix
some discontinued mics. They are Delta Audio at
http://deltaaudio.biz/shure.html. Their repair prices are on their
website. As far as I can determine, the work is done by one or more
former Shure employees.

Unfortunately they don't have the rubber pieces I need to repair a
couple of 556s mics, but they do have the grill cloth/windscreen
material. If I can find a way to somehow mold a 1" cube of rubber, I may
be able to make one.

Recently Shure sent me an exploded parts diagram for a mic. It was hand
drawn. The part numbers were scribbled on it. As the part numbers
changed over the years, they scratched out the old number and wrote in
the new ones. It's hard to believe that a world leader in its product
area would not have professional engineering drawings of its products.
(If they do have the drawings, which I would think they need for their
manufacturers, they should share them with their parts department.)

The company is probably no worse than any other modern company, but they
are not the wonderful customer-centric company that I loved. Your
mileage may vary, and I hope it does. I'm simply reporting my experiences.

By the way, Delta Audio also repairs bicycles.

[Peter Larsen[_3_]]

mcp6453 wrote:

In my humble opinion, Shure, the company, is not what it used to be.
Many years ago, you could send them a mic, and they would repair it
and return it for a very reasonable charge. Later, they would give
you a comparable mic as a replacement, also for a reasonable cost.
Now, if you call them and ask them about a repair on an old mic, they
reply with, "We don't fix discontinued mics no more."

There was an epoch of great american manufacturing where the manufacturers
were proud to be able to service any product ever made. Back then the US of
A as a nation actually made money on manufacturing. What has happened may
have been that a pinstripe suit calculated how much money they make on mic
repair and how much it cost to have a couple of shelves of occasionally
manufactured parts. If brain located 8 inches above said suit had been
engaged, then a calculation of worth of mics sold because of servicing
confidence also had been made, but brain was off and business school had
failed to instruct owner of said brain on howcome money used to be made.

I recently explained in an information request to HK Audio that I specify HP
computers only on my daytime job because of the longevity of product and of
support. That didn't put "legacy models" on their web site yet, but I did
get forwarded from support desk to anengineer who then sent me the expired
models excel-sheet that might as well have ben downloadable. This is the
second time I have had to ask them for info - in this case weight of box -
that might as well have been available on their site. However the site is
probably maintained by a tradeco run by grocery klerks with no tech
knowledge or tradition and thus not having specified that the web site
should contain archive-info.

By the way, Delta Audio also repairs bicycles.

:-)

Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[Mike Rivers]

On 7/22/2011 7:45 PM, mcp6453 wrote:
In my humble opinion, Shure, the company, is not what it used to be.

Neither is Ford, or IBM or Neiman-Marcus. So what's new?

Many years ago, you could send them a mic, and they would repair it and
return it for a very reasonable charge. Later, they would give you a
comparable mic as a replacement, also for a reasonable cost. Now, if you
call them and ask them about a repair on an old mic, they reply with,
"We don't fix discontinued mics no more."

At some point you have to be reasonable about this. Think of how many
different mics Shure has made since roughly 1930 when they got started.
25 years ago, And while they don't exactly follow Moore's Law, the
number of new products that Shure introduces in a one or two year block
of time increases every year. So they've made a whole lot of different
mics, some that share some parts, some completely unique. Some are more
fragile than others, some are essentially disposable. Some use materials
or parts that are no longer available. Is it their fault that they
didn't buy a 75 year supply of spares? or that the rubber molding plant
that they used for a particular part is no longer in business and to
make new molds and produce another run of spare parts that will
deteriorate with age? Sure, they could get one rubber bumper made for
the mic that cost $30 fifty years ago, but it would cost them more than
you'd want to pay for the repair, So some things, not just microphones,
eventually become impractical for the original manufacturer to repair.
Maybe they can get an obsolete mic functional again, but it wouldn't be
the same mic that it was 50 years ago.

Fortunately, there are some shops that will take on anything, and are
willing to make parts that they can't buy. But it's a labor of love that
involves money.

Quite by accident, I discovered that there is a company that does fix
some discontinued mics. They are Delta Audio. As far as I can determine, the work is done by one or more
former Shure employees.

Companies like that do pop up. There's a company around Seattle started
by a couple of former Mackie service department techs after Mackie
stopped doing that sort of work in house, and they (among other things
to keep them busy) repare obsolete Mackie gear. Because it's their
specialty, they keep their ears and eyes open for sources of parts and,
like many auto body shops, will salvage good parts from discarded units
so they can extend the service life. They can continue to program new
EPROMS as long as they can get the chips, but some day that chip
manufacturer will decide that there's no longer a need for those chips
and eventually they'll be stuck.

Unfortunately they don't have the rubber pieces I need to repair a
couple of 556s mics, but they do have the grill cloth/windscreen
material. If I can find a way to somehow mold a 1" cube of rubber, I may
be able to make one.

Well, this is something that you can take the time research yourself.
It's like recording your own musical masterpiece. You don't charge
yourself for your labor by the hour so you can put $1,000 worth of your
time into repairing your $50 mic if you want to. But Shure isn't going
to quote you $2,000 to repair your 60 year old mic. If it was 10 years
old and they no longer made it, chances are they'd still have parts for
it, or they'd give you a few bucks off on a replacement. Or, you might
just be stuck.

What's unfortunate is that there are many manufacturers who can no
longer support a product 10 years after it was first introduced, or 5
years after it was discontinued. People talk about laws that protect
them from obsolescence, but I don't know of anyone who ever got
satisfaction that way. .

Recently Shure sent me an exploded parts diagram for a mic. It was hand
drawn. The part numbers were scribbled on it. As the part numbers
changed over the years, they scratched out the old number and wrote in
the new ones.

Isn't that fabulous? You have a lot of data there that you wouldn't get
from a company that has such a long history of manufacturing as Shure does.

It's hard to believe that a world leader in its product
area would not have professional engineering drawings of its products.

Probably the mic was made before they had CAD systems and that was their
system of configuration management - change the drawing by hand. Would
it have been cost effective for them to give that drawing to a CAD
draftsman and have him make a new drawing? Probably not. I'll bet they
have some computer-made drawings that they can no longer support with
the computer systems they're using now, that are only stored as prints
on paper.

The company is probably no worse than any other modern company, but they
are not the wonderful customer-centric company that I loved.

Few companies that have grown so much are. But for many products, that
slack has been taken up by dedicated individuals. But you can't expect
Delta Audio to give you a new mic because they can't get a part for your
old one, nor can you expect the same from Shure.



--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be operated without
a passing knowledge of computing, although it seems that it can be
operated without a passing knowledge of audio" - John Watkinson

Drop by http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com now and then

[polymod]

"Peter Larsen" wrote in message
k...
mcp6453 wrote:

In my humble opinion, Shure, the company, is not what it used to be.
Many years ago, you could send them a mic, and they would repair it
and return it for a very reasonable charge. Later, they would give
you a comparable mic as a replacement, also for a reasonable cost.
Now, if you call them and ask them about a repair on an old mic, they
reply with, "We don't fix discontinued mics no more."

There was an epoch of great american manufacturing where the manufacturers
were proud to be able to service any product ever made. Back then the US
of A as a nation actually made money on manufacturing. What has happened
may have been that a pinstripe suit calculated how much money they make on
mic repair and how much it cost to have a couple of shelves of
occasionally manufactured parts. If brain located 8 inches above said suit
had been engaged, then a calculation of worth of mics sold because of
servicing confidence also had been made, but brain was off and business
school had failed to instruct owner of said brain on howcome money used to
be made.

+1.
Reminds me of a few years back when I had a 100' retaining wall replaced in
my back yard.
A 23 year old suit with, just out of school, with no brains working for the
town, was instructing my mason (who built walls in Mexico for 45 years) how
to 'properly' build a wall.
This is the quality of 'workers' we're left with in every business.

Poly

[Peter Larsen[_2_]]

Mike Rivers wrote:

At some point you have to be reasonable about this. Think of how many
different mics Shure has made since roughly 1930 when they got started.
25 years ago, .... [rubbber parts, etc. etc.]

Yes, there has to be reason, some stuff can not easily be
re-manufactured because plant/process/machinery no longer exists. Also
there has to be reason in terms of cost of parts and repair, which is
why I paid whatever it was it cost me to get TD124 rubber components
some years ago.

And it may well be that parts and repair _does_ need to be outsourced
because modern organisations loose the ability to "do" something that is
not in the database.

As users of the stuff we also have to accept that socks are not mended
in this millenium unless specially manufactured and at a very special
cost in money or in man hours.

Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[Sean Conolly]

"Peter Larsen" wrote in message
...
Mike Rivers wrote:

At some point you have to be reasonable about this. Think of how many
different mics Shure has made since roughly 1930 when they got started.
25 years ago, .... [rubbber parts, etc. etc.]

Yes, there has to be reason, some stuff can not easily be
re-manufactured because plant/process/machinery no longer exists. Also
there has to be reason in terms of cost of parts and repair, which is
why I paid whatever it was it cost me to get TD124 rubber components
some years ago.

And it may well be that parts and repair _does_ need to be outsourced
because modern organisations loose the ability to "do" something that is
not in the database.

As users of the stuff we also have to accept that socks are not mended
in this millenium unless specially manufactured and at a very special
cost in money or in man hours.

Exactly. They can only stock so many spares, they can only retain production
capability on things that are actually in production, and yes they do have
to consider the cost attempting to repair EOL'd mics vs. the benefit of
future business from a very small pool of customers. The simple fact is that
most of their customers simply don't attempt to have mics repaired - they
just replace them.

On the other hand you have companies like Peavey, who will routinely repair
gear that has been out of service for many years - at a cost. The problem
with their stuff is that it's never worth a lot at any age - why pay $200 to
repair an almost vintage tube amp when they only sell for $300 anyway?

Sean

[Les Cargill[_4_]]

mcp6453 wrote:
In my humble opinion, Shure, the company, is not what it used to be.
Many years ago, you could send them a mic, and they would repair it and
return it for a very reasonable charge. Later, they would give you a
comparable mic as a replacement, also for a reasonable cost. Now, if you
call them and ask them about a repair on an old mic, they reply with,
"We don't fix discontinued mics no more."

Quite by accident, I discovered that there is a company that does fix
some discontinued mics. They are Delta Audio at
http://deltaaudio.biz/shure.html. Their repair prices are on their
website. As far as I can determine, the work is done by one or more
former Shure employees.

Unfortunately they don't have the rubber pieces I need to repair a
couple of 556s mics, but they do have the grill cloth/windscreen
material. If I can find a way to somehow mold a 1" cube of rubber, I may
be able to make one.

Recently Shure sent me an exploded parts diagram for a mic. It was hand
drawn. The part numbers were scribbled on it. As the part numbers
changed over the years, they scratched out the old number and wrote in
the new ones. It's hard to believe that a world leader in its product
area would not have professional engineering drawings of its products.

Not really. They may have been lost.

(If they do have the drawings, which I would think they need for their
manufacturers, they should share them with their parts department.)

The company is probably no worse than any other modern company, but they
are not the wonderful customer-centric company that I loved. Your
mileage may vary, and I hope it does. I'm simply reporting my experiences.

By the way, Delta Audio also repairs bicycles.


Had everything else stayed exactly the same and we were to only
account for inflation, an SM57 made in 1970 would cost
about $450 - $550 today ( based on a sales price of $79 or $99).

--
Les Cargill

[Peter Larsen[_2_]]

Sean Conolly wrote:

On the other hand you have companies like Peavey, who will routinely repair
gear that has been out of service for many years - at a cost. The problem
with their stuff is that it's never worth a lot at any age - why pay $200 to
repair an almost vintage tube amp when they only sell for $300 anyway?

Because those amps, while identical when they left the factory, have
distinct sonic personalities due to different component aging. I don't
know if that holds water, but I do expect it to be the reasoning and it
would be unsurprising if someone wanted to pay 500 dollars for a repair
rather than 300 for another amplifier simply because it is the amplifier
they are used to.

Sean

Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[Scott Dorsey]

Peter Larsen wrote:
There was an epoch of great american manufacturing where the manufacturers
were proud to be able to service any product ever made. Back then the US of
A as a nation actually made money on manufacturing. What has happened may
have been that a pinstripe suit calculated how much money they make on mic
repair and how much it cost to have a couple of shelves of occasionally
manufactured parts.

That's some of it. But one of the "tax reforms" that was put in place
during the Reagan administration was to make replacement part inventory on
hand taxable. So it costs companies like Shure every year to keep paying
tax on old parts that they are unlikely to sell... by the time they actually
sell, they may have paid far more in tax than they did for the part itself.

This has make it VERY difficult for US manufacturers to support older
products in the past 25 years.

So don't blame it all on Shure's bean counters, although they are certainly
implicated.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[mcp6453[_2_]]

On 7/23/2011 8:10 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:

That's some of it. But one of the "tax reforms" that was put in place
during the Reagan administration was to make replacement part inventory on
hand taxable. So it costs companies like Shure every year to keep paying
tax on old parts that they are unlikely to sell... by the time they actually
sell, they may have paid far more in tax than they did for the part itself.

This has make it VERY difficult for US manufacturers to support older
products in the past 25 years.

So don't blame it all on Shure's bean counters, although they are certainly
implicated.

Maybe Shure should just do like all other red blooded American companies, like
Apple, and avoid manufacturing or maintaining inventory in the United States.

[hank alrich]

mcp6453 wrote:

On 7/23/2011 8:10 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:

That's some of it. But one of the "tax reforms" that was put in place
during the Reagan administration was to make replacement part inventory on
hand taxable. So it costs companies like Shure every year to keep paying
tax on old parts that they are unlikely to sell... by the time they actually
sell, they may have paid far more in tax than they did for the part itself.

This has make it VERY difficult for US manufacturers to support older
products in the past 25 years.

So don't blame it all on Shure's bean counters, although they are certainly
implicated.

Maybe Shure should just do like all other red blooded American companies, like
Apple, and avoid manufacturing or maintaining inventory in the United States.

Shure is in a different market.

--
shut up and play your guitar * http://hankalrich.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpqXcV9DYAc
http://www.sonicbids.com/HankandShaidri

[Mike Rivers]

On 7/23/2011 1:22 PM, Sean Conolly wrote:

On the other hand you have companies like Peavey, who will routinely repair
gear that has been out of service for many years - at a cost.

Well, consider what Peavy makes. When it comes to tube amplifiers, there
really aren't many parts that are no longer available. They may not be
able to source the original part but a 0.01 uF capacitor from Chna will
work just as well as the original Aerovox one that's no longer made.
They don't change knobs very often so chances are pretty good that a
knob from a current production amplifier can replace one from a 30 year
old amplifier. Probably the hardest part to get is the the transformers,
and I wouldn't be surprised if they have transformers in current
production that will work in a vintage amplifier. And if not, they still
work with transformer makers (if they don't have their own manufacturing
facility) so it's not that hard, just expensive, to get whatever they need.
..
The problem
with their stuff is that it's never worth a lot at any age - why pay $200 to
repair an almost vintage tube amp when they only sell for $300 anyway?

Because with a vintage tube amplifier, it's all about the way in which
it sounds crappy that's just not going to be the same with a new one .


--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be operated without
a passing knowledge of computing, although it seems that it can be
operated without a passing knowledge of audio" - John Watkinson

Drop by http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com now and then

[Steve King]

"hank alrich" wrote in message
...
mcp6453 wrote:

On 7/23/2011 8:10 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:

That's some of it. But one of the "tax reforms" that was put in place
during the Reagan administration was to make replacement part inventory
on
hand taxable. So it costs companies like Shure every year to keep
paying
tax on old parts that they are unlikely to sell... by the time they
actually
sell, they may have paid far more in tax than they did for the part
itself.

This has make it VERY difficult for US manufacturers to support older
products in the past 25 years.

So don't blame it all on Shure's bean counters, although they are
certainly
implicated.

Maybe Shure should just do like all other red blooded American companies,
like
Apple, and avoid manufacturing or maintaining inventory in the United
States.

Shure is in a different market.

--

I purchased quite a few Shure mics and other equipment and had a few repair
experiences with Shure. This was in the 70s-80s. I know things change. I
think Shure has changed ownership, and management has changed certainly.
But, back then, Shure had a great customer oriented culture. It was easy to
get to the person who really knew their product and how customers used it.
Repairs were reasonable. Everyone you talked to seemed genuinely interested
in how you were using their equipment. It was a very impressive company.
Hopefully, that kind of corporate culture has had some staying power. I've
no recent experience to judge.

Steve King

[Marc Wielage[_2_]]

On Sat, 23 Jul 2011 12:24:35 -0700, Les Cargill wrote
(in article ):

Had everything else stayed exactly the same and we were to only
account for inflation, an SM57 made in 1970 would cost
about $450 - $550 today ( based on a sales price of $79 or $99).
------------------------------snip------------------------------

You sure an SM57 in 1970 cost $79 in 1970 dollars? That sounds high to me.

Amazingly, there's an article on Wikipedia about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shure_SM57

but no 1965 price.

--MFW

[Peter Larsen[_3_]]

Scott Dorsey wrote:

Peter Larsen wrote:

There was an epoch of great american manufacturing where the
manufacturers were proud to be able to service any product ever
made. Back then the US of A as a nation actually made money on
manufacturing. What has happened may have been that a pinstripe suit
calculated how much money they make on mic repair and how much it
cost to have a couple of shelves of occasionally manufactured parts.

That's some of it. But one of the "tax reforms" that was put in place
during the Reagan administration was to make replacement part
inventory on hand taxable. So it costs companies like Shure every
year to keep paying tax on old parts that they are unlikely to
sell... by the time they actually sell, they may have paid far more
in tax than they did for the part itself.

First he goobled up the cobalt for star wars so that JBL couldn't afford
alnico and then he stopped pro audio spareparts. And I actually was
beginning to consider him occasionally one of your good presidents.

This has make it VERY difficult for US manufacturers to support older
products in the past 25 years.

Sheesh ... a lot is explained, thank you for yet another illuminating follow
up Scott.

So don't blame it all on Shure's bean counters, although they are
certainly implicated.

I would love if product maintenance and sparepart strategy was in the
product specs, at least when it is not "toy class implements".

Ah well, you also can not break a 421 and send it in and get a new at 50%
off. I wonder whether Ortofon still buys cartridges back ... perhaps about
time to renew that x5mc even if it has had a lot fewer hours than all
earlier cartridges in this household.

--scott

Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[Les Cargill[_4_]]

Marc Wielage wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jul 2011 12:24:35 -0700, Les Cargill wrote
(in ):

Had everything else stayed exactly the same and we were to only
account for inflation, an SM57 made in 1970 would cost
about $450 - $550 today ( based on a sales price of $79 or $99).
------------------------------snip------------------------------

You sure an SM57 in 1970 cost $79 in 1970 dollars? That sounds high to me.

Amazingly, there's an article on Wikipedia about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shure_SM57

but no 1965 price.

--MFW


I am not certain at all - I think they were around that later in
the '70s.

--
Les Cargill

[Scott Dorsey]

mcp6453 wrote:

Maybe Shure should just do like all other red blooded American companies, like
Apple, and avoid manufacturing or maintaining inventory in the United States.

Well, they moved production of the SM57 to Mexico years ago, in part for
those reasons. Fletcher swears he can tell the difference between the US
and Mexican ones, but I can't.

However, there are still a lot of secret manufacturing processes that go on
at Shure. You can tour the line where they make the SM-81s, except for the
room where they put the diaphragms on the little rings. What goes on in
there, they won't tell you about. Like many companies with legitimate
trade secrets, I am sure they fear offshore manufacture because it makes
controlling them more difficult.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Richard Kuschel]

On Jul 24, 2:20*am, Marc Wielage wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jul 2011 12:24:35 -0700, Les Cargill wrote
(in article ):

Had everything else stayed exactly the same and we were to only
account for inflation, an SM57 made in 1970 would cost
about $450 - $550 today ( based on a sales price of $79 or $99).
------------------------------snip------------------------------

You sure an SM57 in 1970 cost $79 in 1970 dollars? *That sounds high to me.

Amazingly, there's an article on Wikipedia about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shure_SM57

but no 1965 price.

--MFW

Actually, it would be a lot more then $450. the price of an SM57back
then was about $137,00

for comparison , My 1968nPontiac firebird was $3045.00

[Trevor]

"mcp6453" wrote in message
...
Maybe Shure should just do like all other red blooded American companies,
like
Apple, and avoid manufacturing or maintaining inventory in the United
States.

They did, all their cheap mics are now made in Mexico aren't they?

Trevor.

[Marc Wielage[_2_]]

On Sun, 24 Jul 2011 19:38:16 -0700, Richard Kuschel wrote
(in article
):

Actually, it would be a lot more then $450. the price of an SM57back
then was about $137,00
------------------------------snip------------------------------

I still don't think that's right, certainly not in American dollars. If I
had access to my Lafayette catalogs, I could tell you in seconds, but they're
buried in boxes at the moment.

My gut feeling is that they were closer to $55, though I admit, in 1970
dollars, that's a lot more than the $90 or so an SM57 goes for today.

--MFW

[Steve King]

"Marc Wielage" wrote in message
.com...
On Sun, 24 Jul 2011 19:38:16 -0700, Richard Kuschel wrote
(in article
):

Actually, it would be a lot more then $450. the price of an SM57back
then was about $137,00
------------------------------snip------------------------------

I still don't think that's right, certainly not in American dollars. If I
had access to my Lafayette catalogs, I could tell you in seconds, but
they're
buried in boxes at the moment.

My gut feeling is that they were closer to $55, though I admit, in 1970
dollars, that's a lot more than the $90 or so an SM57 goes for today.

--MFW


But, in 1970 they were called 545s, weren't they?

Steve King

[Scott Dorsey]

Steve King wrote:
"Marc Wielage" wrote in message
On Sun, 24 Jul 2011 19:38:16 -0700, Richard Kuschel wrote
(in article
):

Actually, it would be a lot more then $450. the price of an SM57back
then was about $137,00
------------------------------snip------------------------------

I still don't think that's right, certainly not in American dollars. If I
had access to my Lafayette catalogs, I could tell you in seconds, but
they're
buried in boxes at the moment.

My gut feeling is that they were closer to $55, though I admit, in 1970
dollars, that's a lot more than the $90 or so an SM57 goes for today.


But, in 1970 they were called 545s, weren't they?

Nope, slightly different product.

The 545 is still being manufactured too, and it's slightly more expensive
than a regular SM57. It's one of the most popular microphones in Japan.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Steve King]

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Steve King wrote:
"Marc Wielage" wrote in message
On Sun, 24 Jul 2011 19:38:16 -0700, Richard Kuschel wrote
(in article
):

Actually, it would be a lot more then $450. the price of an SM57back
then was about $137,00
------------------------------snip------------------------------

I still don't think that's right, certainly not in American dollars. If
I
had access to my Lafayette catalogs, I could tell you in seconds, but
they're
buried in boxes at the moment.

My gut feeling is that they were closer to $55, though I admit, in 1970
dollars, that's a lot more than the $90 or so an SM57 goes for today.


But, in 1970 they were called 545s, weren't they?

Nope, slightly different product.

The 545 is still being manufactured too, and it's slightly more expensive
than a regular SM57. It's one of the most popular microphones in Japan.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

I know I've heard that before. Back in the day we had a bunch of 545s and
546s, the one with the shock mount and integrated swivel mount. What are
the differences?

Steve King

[Scott Dorsey]

Steve King wrote:

I know I've heard that before. Back in the day we had a bunch of 545s and
546s, the one with the shock mount and integrated swivel mount. What are
the differences?

The color (and the top part of the body being plastic on the 545). The
element is the same. The 545 is also available with an optional switch.

Decades ago they were sold through different marketing channels; the
installed sound guys got the 545, the MI store guys and pro sound guys
got the SM.

At one point I was told that the 545 was made with elements that didn't
pass muster for the SM-series, but if this was ever the case, it isn't any
longer.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[mcp6453[_2_]]

On 8/2/2011 1:50 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
Steve King wrote:

I know I've heard that before. Back in the day we had a bunch of 545s and
546s, the one with the shock mount and integrated swivel mount. What are
the differences?

The color (and the top part of the body being plastic on the 545). The
element is the same. The 545 is also available with an optional switch.

Decades ago they were sold through different marketing channels; the
installed sound guys got the 545, the MI store guys and pro sound guys
got the SM.

At one point I was told that the 545 was made with elements that didn't
pass muster for the SM-series, but if this was ever the case, it isn't any
longer.

I have a 545 that doesn't work. It's so old I assumed it was a lost cause, but
since it's still made, maybe there's a chance. I, too, heard that they were made
from lower performing parts, but with manufacturing technologies and
efficiencies where they are, there probably are not a lot of those any more.

Are Shure's capsules made in China now?

[Scott Dorsey]

mcp6453 wrote:
I have a 545 that doesn't work. It's so old I assumed it was a lost cause, but
since it's still made, maybe there's a chance. I, too, heard that they were made
from lower performing parts, but with manufacturing technologies and
efficiencies where they are, there probably are not a lot of those any more.

I think Shure has a flat rate repair fee on those. I may have a spare
element in the junk drawer if you want one, too.

Are Shure's capsules made in China now?

No, all of those have been made in Mexico since the early nineties, though.
Way better process control when you can have folks driving down to the
factory every week.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."